# Could someone explain the appeal of Space Ghost and spinoffs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 12, 2012, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-the-appeal-of-space-ghost-and-spinoffs/621657 "2012-05-12T00:05:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-the-appeal-of-space-ghost-and-spinoffs/621657/1 "2012-05-12T00:05:00Z")
😕 I like Aqua Teens, and a lot of other surreal and strange humor shows on Adult Swim. But for the life of me I don’t get the love of Space Ghost Coast To Coast or the endless spinoffs(The Brak Show etc) when I first saw it I assumed it was cheap to produce and allowed CN to stretch the definition of cartoon and bring in more viewers(is an animated character “interviewing” celebs a cartoon?). For what it is a talk show its ok, a lot of the skits get tiresome. The spinoffs are downright annoying sometimes. What gives? ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-the-appeal-of-space-ghost-and-spinoffs/621657/2 "2012-05-12T00:13:49Z")
I had no idea it was still on. Do they make new episodes or are they all old reruns? I watched it damn near 20 years ago and, then, it was surreal and funny because we hadn’t seen a show like it before. The animation played into our “oh my God, I’m almost out of college and a real adult, ooohh… childhood nostalgia” needs and the awkward humor (long pauses, terrible interviews) was still something relatively new. I imagine the style of humor it had has been used enough by now and you can find enough 70’s & 80’s retro stuff to choke a sloth these days that it doesn’t have much of a niche unless you were already a fan. I never watched the spin-offs and can only imagine that they’d lose their novelty in a hurry. Brak and Zorak were best in small doses. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-the-appeal-of-space-ghost-and-spinoffs/621657/3 "2012-05-12T00:19:53Z")
Have there been any _Space Ghost_ spin-offs besides _The Brak Show_ and _Aqua Teens_? _Space Ghost Coast to Coast_ started off as filler. Cartoon Network showed cartoons during the day to kids. Kids go to bed early. So they had a lot of late-night airtime to fill. They could show Tom & Jerry reruns that no one would watch, or they could fill the time with something cheap and weird that at least had a chance of attracting a cult following. Which _Space Ghost_ did. It worked well enough that in 2001 they launched Adult Swim and started making more quirky original shows to appeal to the _Space Ghost_ fan base. _The Brak Show_ was a misfire. It was painful to watch and horribly unfunny, but it didn’t last very long. But other shows like _Aqua Teens_ and _Harvey Birdman_ and _Sealab 2021_ and _Venture Brothers_ were hilarious and brilliant. And _Space Ghost_ paved the way for them. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-the-appeal-of-space-ghost-and-spinoffs/621657/4 "2012-05-12T00:25:41Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > I had no idea it was still on. Do they make new episodes or are they all old reruns? > > I watched it damn near 20 years ago and, then, it was surreal and funny because we hadn’t seen a show like it before. The animation played into our “oh my God, I’m almost out of college and a real adult, ooohh.. childhood nostalgia” needs and the awkward humor (long pauses, terrible interviews) was still something relatively new. > > I imagine the style of humor it had has been used enough by now and you can find enough 70’s & 80’s retro stuff to choke a sloth these days that it doesn’t have much of a niche unless you were already a fan. > > I never watched the spin-offs and can only imagine that they’d lose their novelty in a hurry. Brak and Zorak were best in small doses. Yes I was watching CN just now and there was a painfully unfunny segment with Brak, he and Zorak are the hosts of a new variety show(although at least it isn’t on Adult Swim). I never saw the original show the characters were cribbed from. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-the-appeal-of-space-ghost-and-spinoffs/621657/5 "2012-05-12T01:10:24Z")
I watched Space Ghost Coast to Coast when it first aired and thought it was hilarious. [Curses](http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xeeagl_space-ghost-c2c-71-curses_shortfilms) was one of my favorite episodes, especially the cannibalistic rampage at the end – I still crack up at “Moltar, you’re looking rather… _bellllchhh_… **plump** today…” I don’t know, it was the charm of the limitations of the animation plus the characters plus that particular brand of humor…I don’t know how to explain it, dude. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-the-appeal-of-space-ghost-and-spinoffs/621657/6 "2012-05-12T01:22:40Z")
If you don’t get **Space Ghost Coast to Coast** I’m afraid we can’t be friends. My friends know why it’s important to blow up the Hoover dam. ---
**Author:** ![Helena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c68b51/32.png) [@Helena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-the-appeal-of-space-ghost-and-spinoffs/621657/7 "2012-05-12T01:25:24Z")
My husband and I still have things that we quote regularly from Space Ghost Coast to Coast. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-the-appeal-of-space-ghost-and-spinoffs/621657/8 "2012-05-12T01:39:46Z")
Hey, I watched the original Space Ghost in 1966. Pre Star Trek, it was the happening SF for a youngster like me back then. I followed it obsessively for the next 41 episodes until it was cancelled. I had a hell of a crush on Jan. Never really got into the spin-offs, though. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-the-appeal-of-space-ghost-and-spinoffs/621657/9 "2012-05-12T01:53:26Z")
_ **Spaaaace Ghost!** _ I loved, and own, all the originals. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-the-appeal-of-space-ghost-and-spinoffs/621657/10 "2012-05-12T06:50:58Z")
_Space Ghost Coast to Coast_ was awesome! Reruns are still aired every once in awhile. I’m not sure where _Cartoon Planet_ falls in the spinoff line…it used the same characters and backgrounds, but featured much more child-friendly content. I still have two CDs… I’ve never seen the original cartoon. ---
**Author:** ![psiekier](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psiekier/32/116_2.png) [@psiekier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psiekier)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-the-appeal-of-space-ghost-and-spinoffs/621657/11 "2012-05-14T16:39:29Z")
> [@WolfpackJeep](#): > > I’ve never seen the original cartoon. I have. [Alex Toth](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Toth) is awesome. ---
**Author:** ![amaguri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@amaguri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amaguri)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-the-appeal-of-space-ghost-and-spinoffs/621657/12 "2012-05-14T16:50:37Z")
I thought the first season of The Brak Show was bizarre and absurdly funny, but I have an off-beat sense of humor (to put it mildly.) I’m not especially interested in Adult Swim any longer, but as **Jophiel** said, back in the day it was definitely unique… ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-the-appeal-of-space-ghost-and-spinoffs/621657/13 "2012-05-14T17:25:01Z")
Eh… SGCtC was quirky and mildly amusing, but the Brak show was fucking hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-the-appeal-of-space-ghost-and-spinoffs/621657/14 "2012-05-14T18:17:32Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Hey, I watched the original Space Ghost in 1966. I mentioned 70’s/80’s nostalgia so this made me double-take a second but then I remembered that, yeah, even in the early 80’s we had old Underdog/Tennessee Tuxedo/Bullwinkle/Peabody & Sherman episodes playing weekdays at noon on the local UHF station. Never occurred to me at the time that the show was already nearly 20 years old or that I’d eventually be nostalgic for something from eight years before I was born. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-the-appeal-of-space-ghost-and-spinoffs/621657/15 "2012-05-14T18:46:23Z")
I got a huge kick out of SGCtC 15 years ago. I’m not sure how to explain the appeal. It was just funny. Brak was the funniest supporting character, so he got his own show. I remember looking forward to the Brak show, but being disappointed with the product. I still think SGCtC is great, but I haven’t seen it in a long time. ---
**Author:** ![Ashley\_Pomeroy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c68b51/32.png) [@Ashley\_Pomeroy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashley_Pomeroy)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-the-appeal-of-space-ghost-and-spinoffs/621657/16 "2012-05-14T21:09:01Z")
> [@grude](#): > > But for the life of me I don’t get the love of Space Ghost Coast To Coast or the endless spinoffs I’ve always thought that the essence of comedy is subversion, and _Space Goast: Leave this Place_ had subversion literally coming out of its ears. Literally. It subverted the original Space Ghost animation; it subverted our expectations of a cartoon; it subverted the chat show format, and interviews; it subverted the _character-character_ of Space Ghost, and I can understand why some people might not like it, because it’s like _The Irony Review_, forever subverting everything to a point where you come to expect it, and nothing’s shocking any more. A bit like _Monty Python_ in that respect. Not so much a show, more a kind of mental head-space and/or conditioning exercise that altered your perception of reality. What if they’re normal, and we’re the freaks? I picture Americans with their big chrome-finned cars and picket fences being driven into hysterical insanity by _Space Ghost_, because it undermined the foundation of the military-industrial hegemony. Hege-_money_, more like. It’s one of a great number of US TV programmes that were never broadcast in Britain, so I only heard about it from a distance, and only got to see it years later via the internet. Along with MST3K, TalkRadio, pretty much the entire Adult Swim roster. As a consequence I had a chance to study it from the outside, like a bug, or a tampon. The whole Space Ghost parody didn’t work, admittedly, because I can’t remember ever seeing the original cartoon; I assumed he was a generic, invented 50s-style superhero character. I suppose the British equivalent would be a chat show using stock footage from _Captain Pugwash_. Also, is Judy Tenuta a real person? What does she do? Play the accordion whilst making trilling noises? Just that? I mean, if that’s all it takes to be a big star in America, why are people miserable there? Why are you miserable? You have Judy Tenuta! You have to use moon clips in order for the cartridges to seat properly in the cylinders, otherwise there’s a risk that the hammer won’t hit the primer hard enough. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-the-appeal-of-space-ghost-and-spinoffs/621657/17 "2012-05-14T21:21:34Z")
> [@Ashley\_Pomeroy](#): > > Also, is Judy Tenuta a real person? What does she do? Play the accordion whilst making trilling noises? Just that? I mean, if that’s all it takes to be a big star in America, why are people miserable there? Why are you miserable? You have Judy Tenuta! She’s a stand-up comedian, whose moment of popularity and relevance was about 20-25 years ago. So, even when SGCtC was originally on the air, she was well past her 15 minutes of fame. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-the-appeal-of-space-ghost-and-spinoffs/621657/18 "2012-05-14T21:49:57Z")
> [@Ashley\_Pomeroy](#): > > As a consequence I had a chance to study it from the outside, like a bug, or a tampon. I love this sentence. I think _Captain Pugwash_ was better known in the U.K. than the original _Space Ghost_ show was in the U.S. Space Ghost was a \*really \*minor superhero. The original show was only on for two seasons. If it wasn’t for Coast to Coast, the character be almost entirely forgotten. Part of the appeal was the pure randomness of reviving Space Ghost. It’s like a piece of strange flotsam thrown clear from the wreck of 1960’s children’s television. A talk show with Jonny Quest or Scooby Doo as the host would clearly have been a parody. But a talk show with Space Ghost as the host was just bizarre. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-the-appeal-of-space-ghost-and-spinoffs/621657/19 "2012-05-17T13:50:56Z")
Space Ghost Coast to Coast is quite literally the grandfather to all the Adult Swim stuff. It existed for over five years as CN only adult night time show before launching AS in 2001. And The Brak Show started to falter a bit latter on, but I thought it was mostly hilarious. George Lowe as a demented Ricky Ricardo chastising his son- _ **"Brak, if you’re done driving you little baby car around St Babysburg…"** _ ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-the-appeal-of-space-ghost-and-spinoffs/621657/20 "2012-05-17T14:08:16Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Hey, I watched the original Space Ghost in 1966. Pre Star Trek, it was the happening SF for a youngster like me back then. I followed it obsessively for the next 41 episodes until it was cancelled. I had a hell of a crush on Jan. > > Never really got into the spin-offs, though. I had a crush on Jan as a child, as well. Plus, it was a very fun superhero cartoon for a demented little kid like me. What a small universe we live in! Ha! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-explain-the-appeal-of-space-ghost-and-spinoffs/621657.md?page=2)